Dinner and a Movie

          June is the month all Koreans refer to as, “the rainy season”. Americans would call it the monsoon and typhoon season. Up until this past Wednesday June was just like May, humid and warm. The sky is now filled with dark clouds and the sidewalks are transforming into small ponds. Eight inches of rain are still on the way. It has rained all day Saturday off and on which ruined my original plans of going clay shooting with the guys from work. Hopefully in two weeks it won’t still be raining so we can still embark on that adventure. As a resident of Los Angeles where it only rains a few days each year, seeing the monsoons here in Korea reminds me of New England weather and how relaxing it is to hear Mother Nature washing your windows. The idea popped into my head that this would be a great chance to go watch a movie at the local theater in the neighboring mall.

A night shot of my hotel when walking to the City 7 mall.

           Before watching anything I had to feed my carbohydrate deprived stomach and settled on pizza, also in the local mall. The pizza in Korea is far different than in America but some restaurants still sell American style pizza, including my destination, Mr. Pizza. Most of the menu is Korean pizzas with exotic toppings such as ribs, prawns, lettuce, and sweet potatoes. I went with a classic cheese pizza with a few extra toppings of pepperoni, mushroom, onion, and green peppers. Fifteen minutes later my pizza arrived without the mushrooms but with corn instead. The mix-up wasn’t too bad but I must point out that the pepperoni was placed under the cheese while the vegetables were all on top. This doesn’t let the pepperoni crisp up and it reminded me of eating the pepperoni inside a pizza lunch-able.

Mr. Pizza and many other restaurants in Korea have two distinct ways of operating compared to the U.S. First, they leave your bill at the table as soon as you order. If you ask the waitresses for anything extra they just print out a new check and leave it on the table. This isn’t a bad way of doing business because you always pay for your food up at the front counter. There is no waiting for your waitress for 15 minutes like in American restaurants just to get a bill and leave disgruntled that the final leg of service took too long. The second difference in Korean dining is that each table has a buzzer to call over the waitress. No one comes around to check up on you and ask how your food is or if you want a refill. When your glass is empty just hit the button and they come right over. Some will literately sprint to your table as soon as they hear the ding of the button at the front of the restaurant. One fancy steakhouse actually had a bell shaped like an apple and colored gold that served the same purpose as the button. In the five or so weeks of living in Korea not once have I had a bad dining experience because of a waiter or waitress. If only these techniques were adopted in American restaurants.

After dinner I walked to the movie theater to see what was playing. The only American movies with billboards were Kung Fu Panda 2, X-Men, and Super 8. I chose Super 8 not because that’s what I wanted to see, but because I really had no desire to see the others and my mind was set on watching a movie. There were no lines to wait in to buy tickets; everyone takes a number just like at the Deli in the supermarket. Within a minute or two I was at the counter looking at a map of the theater and picking my seat. This was a very cool feature that didn’t cost extra like some American theaters. The cashier asked for W 9,000 and in exchange gave me my ticket. Near the ticket counter were a jewelry stand and a snack bar. Movies are a very popular date place in Korea so there was little surprise to see a large arrangement of necklaces, bracelets, and hair ties to “woo” ones date even more. The snack bar had the typical popcorn and nachos as well as beer. The prices were very fair with a large popcorn costing W 5,500 and two beers with nachos were only W 8,500. Sorry, no Slushies at this theater – only water, soda, beer, and vitamin water.

The ticket counter



The sucker bet, A.K.A. the jewelery stand, for teenage boys and the loves of their life. 

One of two snack bars

Temptations

The movie theater experience was very similar to the American way except for the Korean subtitles. There were other small differences like exiting through the bottom of the theater and entering at the top but it felt like home while I was there. For anyone who has seen Super 8, it is rated PG-13 but is almost borderline rated R. They must be more liberal about age restrictions in Korea because the film had a few children in grade school as well one little girl who couldn’t have been more than five years old. She didn’t scream or cry through the film so I’m guessing she was asleep. Next week Transformers 3-D comes out, that will be a must see in the theater.

Transformers 3

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2